Regal Heights Healthcare & Rehab Center

When my mom went to Regal Heights, they called me, and everything that they did, they reached out to me and said, "Here's what we are doing, here's why we are doing it, here's what we think, et cetera." I was really appreciative of that because they gave her kind of a new assessment. My mother had been in an assisted living facility, and her health was going down when I switched her to Medicaid after I was a private payor, and that's what kind of precipitated saying, "Let's go to a nursing home." I was blown away which way to go, but they were very good. Her health and everything about her has just improved significantly. They accommodated her from a food standpoint because she wasn't eating, so they kept trying different mechanical. They would chop all the food and do all these things to find the one that she would eat the best, which was very helpful. She says the food is OK, but she doesn't really like it, and she doesn't like food anywhere, so that is not an issue. But one of the things she has commented on there is always activities. So I think they are doing a lot to keep her engaged. She is 91, and they are doing great activities. They have church, they do drawings, artwork, or whatever, and I think when you are 4 years old that is so important, to keep your brain moving, so that is something that I really like.

My mother was at Regal Heights Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center. She didn't like the food. She liked some of the people but she didn't like the environment at all.

My grandmother spent the last 6 years of her life after her stroke in and out of different nursing homes. She spent roughly the last three years at Regal Heights in Hockessin. Compared to the other places we visited her (including my aunt's house), Regal Heights was certainly a lovely place. Set back from the road, the grounds had the feel of a sort of country house or manor from years past. There were lots of trees, and from most angles the rooms looked out upon fields. Visiting family members were encouraged to take their loved one for a walk or a ride outside. The residents were encouraged to socialize the best they could, which was easier for some residents than others. There were schedules for bingo and movie nights, and there were communal chairs and televisions the residents could sit around together; the rooms also had televisions hanging from the ceiling over each bed. Since it is a long-term care facility, the residents are allowed to decorate however they please: my grandmother was allowed to keep small plants, and her roommate was able to hang pictures of dogs on the bathroom door. Although I never ate there, the menu, especially around the holidays, seemed standard enough. But what I most liked about Regal Heights was the people. The nurses and the assistants were all incredibly nice, genuinely good-hearted people. They are well-trained to respond to almost anything, including unruly family members of residents. They also were very patient with Grandmom, especially with her aphasia; by the end of it, they were very good at interpreting what she was saying. My grandmother passed away last year, and while I know she didn't like being there (but in that position, who would?), she liked it much better than the other places she had been. That is why I gave it 4/5.